Peg Leg wrote:simonokeeffe wrote:I give him a C +
Harsh. He hadn't a snowballs chance in hell, with folks on here discussing the odds of the baba's game being the only likely win.
Fair play to Ciaranirl, he called the (imo) saviour of the tour after the win against crusaders by calling for the test 9-12 axis of murray, sexton, farrell.
The fact is that Gatland's brand of rugby is pretty much the only way you can coach a scratch team with very little time together. He is now an undefeated lions tour coach. Yeah the G6 was moronic and nepotism but it probably only limited him in rotating a couple of lads on the bench.
Would have to see this tour as a better than expected result. B+ for me
Geography 6 was corrupt incompetence that cheapened the jersey and could have backfired badly if there was a crisis in a position. Half hearedly rowing back on it made it worse and risked fitness issues in back row. Plus we have to put up with 3 Welsh donks being referred to as Lions forever more. Not replacing Moriarty let alone timely was a mistake too
Test Result was better than expected but they got so lucky with SBW red card and the weather. Not going to criticise Gatty over the opposition kicker
No disrespect or offence to Ciaran but a lot of people were calling for or expecting that 9 10 12 axis for months, wouldve been tried sooner but for workloads of Sexton and Farrell, and it was the only change he could make
Sexton was on fire in second test, goalkicking aside Farrell didnt do well at 12
Second test was only one with selection right. Some players were rewarded for form some werent. Some pre ordained decisions were kept some werent. Shows how biased we expected Gatty to be than any call where he didnt pick the expected Welsh bloke was dramatic eg North, Halfpenny.
Retired from babbling. Can be found on twittter @okeeffesimon